Guided by the person by environment framework, the primary goal of this study was to determine whether classroom chaos moderated the relation between effortful control and kindergarteners' school adjustment. Classroom observers reported on children's ( N = 301) effortful control in the fall. In the spring, teachers reported on classroom chaos and school adjustment outcomes (teacher-student relationship closeness and conflict, and school liking and avoidance). Cross-level interactions between effortful control and classroom chaos predicting school adjustment outcomes were assessed...

Parent and school bonds are protective against delinquency. This study used longitudinal data and multilevel Poisson regression models (MLM) to examine unique and interactive associations of parent and school bonds on youth delinquency in a sample of rural adolescents ( n = 945; 84% White). We investigated whether youth sex or transitioning to a new middle school moderated the linkages between parent and school bonds and later delinquency. Results indicated reduced delinquency was associated with positive parent and school relationships...

We studied contributions of domain-specific daily hassles to anxiety and delinquency prior to and during the transition into middle ( N = 186) or high school ( N = 167) in a sample of low-income, urban adolescents (93% African American; 54% female) using a two-wave longitudinal design. Path models controlling for baseline maladjustment and sex examined how hassles from parents, peers, academics, and the neighborhood were associated with maladjustment once youth had made the transition into a new school. Hassles with friends both prior to and during the school transition mattered for older youth's maladjustment only, whereas hassles with parents mattered for both older and younger youth...

Family interactions are potential contexts for children with intellectual and learning disabilities to develop skillful social behaviors needed to relate effectively with peers. This study examined problem solving interactions within families of elementary school-age children (7-11 years) with intellectual disability (n = 37), specific learning disabilities (n =48), and without disabilities (n = 22). After accounting for group differences in children's behaviors and peer acceptance, across all groups, mothers' behaviors that encouraged egalitarian problem solving predicted more engaged and skillful problem solving by the children...

Data from the Head Start Impact Study ( N = 1,141) and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, 2009 Cohort ( N = 825) were used to investigate whether Spanish instruction in Head Start differentially increased Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners' (DLLs) academic achievement. Although hypothesized that Spanish instruction would be beneficial for DLLs' early literacy and math skills, results from residualized growth models showed there were no such positive associations. Somewhat surprisingly, DLL children instructed in Spanish had higher English receptive vocabulary skills at the end of the Head Start year than those not instructed, with children randomly assigned to Head Start and instructed in Spanish having the highest scores...

One important subtyping of behavior problems is Moffitt's (1993) "life-course-persistent" (LCP) and "adolescent limited" (AL) categories of antisocial behavior, which she differentiated in terms of high impulsivity, poor academic performance, and aggression. These problems may be exacerbated by the cumulative effects of chronic stress. Copious evidence has documented validity and developmental differences between these subtypes, whereas far fewer data exist regarding their clinical utility, in spite of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual's nomenclature including corresponding subtypes based on age-of-onset of behavioral symptoms...

Past research indicates that depressed adolescents experience increased risk for peer victimization. Less is known about the conditions under which depressive symptoms predict social vulnerability and the mechanism underlying such links. The current study considers a) characterological self-blaming attributions as a social cognitive mechanism accounting for links between depressive symptoms and victimization across the first two years of middle school and b) the potential moderating role of friends' level of depressive symptoms...

This study examined the longitudinal effects of adolescents' depressive symptoms on engagement in technology-based social comparison and feedback seeking (SCFS) behaviors. A total of 816 adolescents (54.7% girls; M age =14.1 at Time 1) participated at three times points, each one year apart. Adolescents reported technology-based SCFS, depressive symptoms, and frequencies of technology use (cell phones, Facebook, and Instagram). Multiple group (by gender) latent growth curve models examined concurrent and lagged effects of depressive symptoms on SCFS, controlling for adolescent's underlying trajectories of SCFS and overall frequencies of technology use...

This study examined predictors of depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood in a sample of 1,142 individuals (94% African American) who grew up in urban poverty. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study that followed participants from age five and included participant, parent, and teacher surveys, and administrative records. Depressive symptoms were self-reported at age 22-24 using a modified version of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis, 1975). Binary logistic regression analyses identified several significant predictors of depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood, including: sex, adverse childhood experiences (ACE) score, socio-emotional adjustment in the classroom, juvenile arrest, and on-time graduation...

Informal learning outside of school are crucial for a child's development. Children's museums, in particular, are environments conducive to this sort of learning, especially when parents guide children's exploration. However, research suggests a gap between parents' and experts' perceptions of the value of informal learning. In Study 1, we asked groups of parents and experts (i.e., individuals in the community connected with the field of education or those with training in child growth and development) to rate the presence of learning opportunities available in two museum exhibits, finding that parents consistently provided lower ratings...

Early exposure to violence during adolescence is related to negative psycho-social outcomes later in life. In the present study, we examined the influence of cumulative exposure to violence during adolescence and trajectories of perceived stress in emerging adulthood in a sample of at-risk urban youth ( N = 850; 80.1% African American; 50% female). Growth curve modeling indicated an overall decrease in reported stress as individuals aged. Baseline levels of violence exposure ( M age = 14.9) were associated with higher perceived stress levels in emerging adulthood ( M age = 20...

Expectancy value theory and a cultural-ecological framework are integrated in this study to examine the trajectories of 246 Mexican-origin adolescents' (Mage = 12.52, SDage = 0.58; 51% girls, 62% U.S.-born) educational expectations across eight years. Findings from a multilevel growth model revealed that early adolescents expected to complete a post-bachelor's degree, but expectations declined in middle adolescence and improved in late adolescence. This pattern was more pronounced for immigrant, compared to U...

Recent work has identified links between mothers' self-regulation and emotion regulation (ER) and children's social-emotional outcomes. However, associations between maternal ER strategies (e.g., reappraisal, suppression), known to influence internalizing problems in adults, and children's negative affect (NA) have not been considered. In the current study, the direct and indirect relationships, through maternal internalizing problems, between maternal use of ER strategies and infant NA are examined. The potential effects of infant NA on maternal internalizing difficulties are also considered...

Although prior research has established a link between exposure to peer victimization and depressive symptoms, relatively little is known about the processes underlying this association. This study examined whether maladaptive responses to a novel social stressor - specifically, lower levels of problem solving or higher levels of rumination - mediate this association. Data were gathered from 130 children (64 boys, 66 girls; M age = 9.46, SD = .33) who participated in a laboratory social stressor task with an unfamiliar peer...

In the present study we propose a model linking parental perceptions of technology to technology-related parenting strategies to youth screen time, and, finally, to internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Participants were 615 parents drawn from three community samples of families with children across three developmental stages: young childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. The model was tested at each stage with the strongest support emerging in the young childhood sample. One component of parental perceptions of technology, perceived efficacy, was related to technology-related parenting strategies across developmental stages...

Given the dearth of research about father-figures' influence on children's cognitive development, we investigated the impact of father support, together with maternal parenting, on children's executive function (EF) in the lab (42 and 54 mo.) and at school (K - 3(rd) grade) in a longitudinal, prospective, at-risk sample (N = 182) using path analysis. Both mother parenting and father-figure support significantly predicted child EF. In the final model, concurrent father-figure support was associated with child EF in both early and middle childhood, and mother parenting in early childhood predicted middle childhood EF...

Although adverse effects of suggestive interviewing on children's accuracy are well documented, it remains unclear as to whether these effects vary depending on the valence of and the actor implicated in suggestions. In this study, 124 3-8-year-olds participated in a classroom activity and were later questioned about positive and negative false details. The interviewer provided positive reinforcement when children acquiesced to suggestions and negative feedback when they did not. Following reinforcement or feedback, young children were comparably suggestible for positive and negative details...

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the role of emotion regulation in the link between peer factors and adolescent adjustment difficulties. The sample consisted of 206 adolescents (ages 10-18 years) and parents. Peer factors (i.e., peer antisocial behavior, peer co-rumination, peer emotion regulation) and youth depressive symptoms were based on youth reports. Youth emotion regulation and antisocial behavior were assessed using parent and youth ratings. Results showed that peer antisocial behavior was directly (but not indirectly) related to youth antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms, whereas peer emotion regulation was indirectly (but not directly) related to both adolescent outcomes...